Timber Creek (Sierra Falls 2)

“Yeah. ” Dad nodded. “Real piece of work, that one. ”

Women too hung up on their men…as far as Laura was concerned, everyone should take a page from her book and swear off the male sex completely. “Not my problem. ” She went to put her coffee cup in the sink. “All I know is, business is up, and we’re relying on her more than ever. ”

“Hey,” Sorrow exclaimed, and her knife froze midchop, “what’s up with hiring another person? Dad, didn’t you say we could get some more help around here?”

“Did I?” he asked, looking a little like a trapped animal.

Sorrow smiled. “Oh, you did. You told Billy, remember? How we could get someone to help with the cleaning and front desk stuff. ”

“Seriously? Hired help?” Laura perked up, joining her sister. “That’d be awesome. I totally need help managing reservations. ”

“I don’t know about any hiring. ” Their father looked panicked. “Don’t be getting ahead of yourselves. ”

She’d been momentarily light-headed with excitement, and then her mood dipped lower than ever. “Doesn’t matter, anyway. We won’t even be able to afford Helen once we go under. ”

Dad swung to face her. “What kind of nonsense are you talking, girl?”

“Have you heard about Eddie’s construction project?”

“Sure. ” He shrugged. “You mean that rundown ranch what’s on the old logging creek?”

“That’s the one. ”

He waved it off. “Yeah, Jessup told me about it. He says sprucing it up could be good for the town. Damned if those dot-commers ever did anything with the place. Fat waste that was. Good people could’ve been living there all this time. ”

“Nobody is going to live there,” Laura said. “His project is to turn it into a hotel. ”

“What of it?”

“What of it?” She looked to her sister for support.

Sorrow took over in more even tones, telling him, “Laura’s worried because of who the developer is. Fairview Properties isn’t exactly small potatoes. They’ve got plans to turn the ranch into a resort. ”

“But they mostly run those little hippie places, where they charge rich people an arm and a leg to eat nuts and berries, that sort of thing. ”

“They run world-class resorts,” she protested. “They’ll be touting this as a world-class resort. ”

Bear looked back and forth between the two of them, clearly not getting it. “That little place?”

“They’re building up that little place,” Laura said. “They’re turning it into a spa thing, like Forever Sleepy Resort or something ridiculous like that. Whatever. What I do know is that once they finish, it’ll be just a matter of time before they put us out of business. ”

Their dad thought on that for a moment but finally brushed it off. “I don’t care how big they are, that old ranch is small potatoes, and small potatoes ain’t gonna bring us down. Not with Sorrow in the kitchen now. ” He gave his youngest a wink.

“How times change,” Sorrow murmured with a smirk. Just a year ago, Sully had been in charge of the food, and it was meat loafs and meat pies all around.

“Well, some things don’t change,” Bear asserted. “I’ve seen that old rancher go from hand to hand since I was a kid. Trust me. Nobody’s gonna bend over backward to stay there. ”

The girls’ eyes met. There was no convincing Dad when he didn’t want to be convinced. At least her sister would be able to enjoy several months of cooking before they went under.

“It’ll be okay,” Sorrow mouthed to her as she went to the sink to fill the pot with water.

Bear followed and peered over her shoulder. “What the heck are you making?” Suspicion was thick in his voice.

“She’s just busting out her famous toxic witch’s brew,” Laura deadpanned.

“Jeez, Dad, it’s soup. ” Sorrow gave a swirl to the water with her spoon.

“Looks watery. ”